Is There A Future For Spam?

Will you always be buried underneath a mountain of spam? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? With the current flood of spam to your inbox and ever more devious practices on the part of spammers you'd be forgiven for thinking that spam is here to stay.

The tide has turned folks. It may not seem like that right now with spam being just as abundant as ever. Spammers are getting desperate though. Their most recent move to use home computers as spam zombies demonstrates this desperation quite clearly. For spammers to want to use low speed cable and DSL connections to send their junk email means one thing - the email servers they're normally using are being blocked as quickly as they go online.

This is not to say that spam will just disappear. The volume of spam you're receiving hasn't noticeably reduced. Not yet but it will. Education is beginning to take effect. People are deleting spam instead of replying to it. Home users are hiding their PCs behind firewalls, antivirus software and spam filters. Companies are implementing enforcable Internet policies which prevent employees from sending spam, jokes or otherwise, during working hours. Even Microsoft have made a committment to fighting spam. Their recent buyout of Giant Software may see spam filtering as a default feature in the next version of Microsoft Windows perhaps?

Let's just imagine for a second what might happen if spam doesn't decrease over the next few years.

The geographical hotspots for spammers are Russia, China and the Phillipines. Could a government ,say perhaps the US Government, take a drastic step. Maybe initiate an electronic first strike on the countries which host junk email servers which are used to send out billions of pieces of spam every day? The US already have military Cyber Warfare teams fending off attacks from hackers working for foreign Governments. How hard would it be for them to initiate a cyber assault on spam servers? The US and China actively trade cyber warfare body blows every single day - although this is never discussed on the evening news.

Could data embargos be used to "choke" spammers of their online resources? The Internet itself is compromised of 13 central "pillars" and millions of nodes. A joint venture between the US, UK and the EU could theoretically shut down entire nodes to certain countries - a sort of E-embargo. No data in. No data out. In a world that relies so heavily on data this could bring any offending spam supporting country to its knees in just a few hours.

What's the likelihood of either scenario ever developing? Anywhere from non-existent to highly probable. We live in a world where absolutes mean nothing as each day passes and we surpass what was previously thought impossible.

The future of spam is a dim one. Public outrage and the drain on bandwidth and Internet resources as a whole has forged a bond of common anger between Joe Soap users and big business worldwide. The message is clear - Spam Has To Go!

What was once a very lucrative business for the spammer may soon be putting up a "Closed Due To Lack of Business" sign. Let's hope so.

Copyright 2005 Niall Roche

Niall Roche runs Spam-Site.com which reviews and tests spam blockers and also provides tons of information on the origins of spam and how to fight it. http://www.spam-site.com

Latest News


Marica Lowery, Coastal Georgia Business Owner, Attributes Success ...
1888 Press Release (press release), TX - 26 minutes ago
... President, CEO of Rocan International and visionary creator of the infinitei income plan method of direct response internet marketing," has enabled her ...

Best Syndication

A-1 Internet Design - Keeping Pace with the Global Internet marketing
Best Syndication, CA - Jan 7, 2009
Their web programming services are wide ranging; A-1 Internet Design professional expertise also extends to providing Internet marketing and search engine ...

Search Engine Watch

NY SEO Firm Ranks High With NY Businesses
WebWire (press release), GA - 12 hours ago
New York businesses aren’t taking any chances when it comes to their internet marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies. ...
IndiaBook Indian SEO Company Launches Search Marketing Outsourcing ... PowerHomeBiz.com (press release)
Cybertegic's Search Engine Optimization Services Puts ... PR Web (press release)
Search Engine Optimization Inc. Announces New Addition to Senior ... MSNBC
dBusinessNews Cleveland (press release) - 4Hoteliers
all 37 news articles

Using online tools to market to the customer next door
Meadow Free Press, ID - 14 minutes ago
How do you choose the right internet marketing strategy that really works for you and your business? First you have to understand the need of your prospects ...

Search Engine Watch

Search Marketing Expo West, Offers Early Bird Rates
TheHostingNews.com (press release), OR - 11 hours ago
Search Marketing Expo -- SMX West is produced by Third Door Media, Inc. Third Door Media's mission is to empower internet and search marketing professionals ...
Going to Search Engine Strategies? In a New York Minute! Search Engine Watch
all 11 news articles

Affordable Internet Marketing and Web Design Company Proves a ...
PR.com (press release), NY - 19 hours ago
With the competitive nature of internet marketing companies, it can be difficult to find an affordable internet marketing and web design service. ...

EEG research 'could aid internet marketing'
Digital Response Media, UK - 16 hours ago
Paul Blunden, chief executive of brand consultancy Foviance, said that EEG could help businesses to measure "the emotional reaction" of consumers when ...

Direct Traffic Media

Online marketing and email pointers for small firms
Direct Traffic Media, UK - 16 hours ago
She points out that "online marketing is about making money", therefore, a strong email drive is essential to "any well-rounded internet marketing campaign" ...

AFP

New TV trends: Internet movies, 3-D, power saving
The Associated Press - 5 hours ago
asked Scott Ramirez, vice president of marketing for TVs at Toshiba America Consumer Products. "I have yet to find a person who will say that their flat ...
CES News: Samsung Intros LED TV With Internet Content Twice
Yahoo!® Brings the Cinematic Internet™ to Life and Revolutionizes ... WELT ONLINE
Samsung's Plasma TVs also connect to the Web Dallas Morning News
guardian.co.uk - TMCnet
all 421 news articles

Hotelier’s 2009 Top Ten Internet Marketing Resolutions By Max ...
Hospitality Net - Jan 5, 2009
By Max Starkov & Jason Price Here at HeBS we firmly believe that a comprehensive, ROI-centric Internet marketing strategy is the hotelier's perfect ...

Resources